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Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Hero Cat to the Rescue

If, like me, you were suspicious about a viral video today that purported to show a dog savagely attack a boy in Bakersfield, Ca. only to be scared off by...a little kitty--well, it seems to be real, not fake, like so many others. At least the local media out there think it is and have given it wide coverage. UPDATE: Kid's family talks to People. Naturally the hero cat is a girl. Also: cat invited to throw out first pitch at Bakersfield minor league ball game next week...too bad Catfish Hunter and 'Bird' Fidrych no longer around. Over 100 years ago there was a big league player name Kitty Bransfield...UPDATE #2: Yes, there's a video of cat "throwing out" first pitch last night.

is author of a dozen books (click on covers at right), including the new "THE TUNNELS: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill." He was the longtime editor of Editor & Publisher. Email: epic1934@aol.com. Twitter: @GregMitch

5 comments:

Laurence Glavin
said...

Thus happened in California, (note the temperature in the 90s on the video from the TV station)so I wouldn't be surprised if Jimmy Kimmel, who originates his show in Hollywood, made arrangements for the child, mother and cat, appeared on his show. It's often his MO to interview people in "viral videos". However, the child is described as being autistic, so that may work against bringing him to a TV studio. Maybe they could use Skype(tm).

Instincts often have a way of being counter-intuitive and unpredictable in emergencies, especially to armchair post-analysis. She may have been looking to make sure the dog was gone. All you see took place in just 5 seconds so impossible to know what she did in the next frames after our view stopped.

Wow, so cynical! I never saw this as possibly fake. That dog viciously grabbed that child and cats attack dogs all the time! This cat was taking care of her baby. Where's the phony in that?

As for that poor mother, she didn't see the serious injury right away and her son was up walking. She went to chase the dog off for good and it also the bit her. This was handled perfectly by mother and cat. End of story.

Google 'top earners Youtube'. They've made millions. It was not a stray dog. It is owned by the neighbors and most likely familiar with the boy. Completely unprovoked, such dogs very rarely go for blood with a young child. Erika Triantafilo, the boy's mother, witnessed the whole event and was on the spot within seconds. "The next thing I know, I see my cat flying out of nowhere onto this dog", she told the media, but elsewhere she claimed she didn't realize what had happened until after when her husband showed her the surveillance video. Instead of immediately picking up her child and taking it to the nearest hospital, which is located at about three miles' distance, she runs away. Yeah, right. All was recorded on Tuesday afternoon at 4:51, but the following day, early in the morning already, the boy's father posted the edited video on Youtube. Roger edited it carefully, so we cannot see the boy's left leg before the alleged attack. Tape the dog's favorite meat to his left calf, et voilà, cash in. I'm not saying this happened, but it is possible. Roger declined to answer critical questions from reporters. He also doesn't want to sue its owners, possibly to avoid a critical-thinking lawyer. Google street view of Eagle Vista Drive in Bakersfield. Three CCTV cameras in front of the house in such quiet street?

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